The Voice That Died Out

He often pinched his lips with his fingers to remind neighbours and curious children of the vow of eternal silence that kept him alive. Sejfulla Maleshova’s punishment was unimaginable isolation

On a beautiful hilly graveyard outside the Albanian town of Fier, there lies a grave very different from thousands others. The old pair running the worn-out flowershop nearby mumbles Albanian, looks distrustful at me; unwilling to help. Upon driving away the old man waves at me. The amount of time we cross through the graveyard convince me of how impossible it would have been to locate Maleshova on my own. A small man with a rough fist full of callous skin greets me and just the word of Maleshova is enough. The gravedigger willingly leads me to it. Surrounded by decorated gravestones in a sea of fresh flowers, the restingplace of Sejfulla Maleshova is a small untouched island of overgrown weeds and high tousled grass. A simple grey stone battered by years gone by stands out. In a lonely way. Lonely like the last eleven years of the Albanian poet, auhtor and politician’s life.

Maleshova’s fall from grace came sudden. Once ousted he was forced into exile in a dreary industrial town on the flat plains of central Albania. Twice a day every morning and evening he had to report himself at the headquarters of Domestic affairs in Fier. To prove he was still in town. The famous writer and former statesman passed the front desk and stopped at the leading officer. Then raised his right hand signalling; ‘here I am’ Then turned around and walked out. This bizarre ritual went on until his death.

Rise and Fall

Maleshovas political speeches and talented writing secured him praise and privileges from the Communist leader Enver Hoxha. The two men had fought against occupying forces during World War II from their base in the Albanian mountains. Hoxha served as strategic leader while Maleshova was Head of Propaganda. He saw himself as a ‘partisan writer’ under the name of Lame Kodra. When Albania’s Communist Party seized power in 1945 Maleshova was appointed Minister of Culture and Propaganda. Later he became Minister of Education and President of The League of Albanian Writers and Artists. Maleshova was a moderate Communist but still part of the Hoxha’s inner circle within the Communist Party. Born in deep poverty in 1900 near the town of Gjirokaster, where Hoxha himself was born, Maleshova had reached the political top in Albanian society by the age 45. He had studied medicine in Italy. Been in exile in Paris during 1920s and was political schooled in Moscow before becomming involved with Hoxha’s partisan movement. When World War II ended Maleshova was an influential Communist and respected cosmopolitan.

A letter to President Harry Truman and British PM Clement Atlee changed everything. Maleshova had crossed the line. Along with colleagues from The League of Albanian Writers and Artist he wrote and signed an open letter, that called for Western recognition of Albania. Maleshova had crossed the line. Enver Hoxha was outraged and stated in fury, that the only viable recognition viable was Moscow’s. Maleshova was accused of ‘rightist deviation’ and expelled from the Communist Party in 1948. Maleshova was sentenced to low paid work at the Institute of Science in Tirana, where he worked on a Russian-Albanian dictionary. Sometimes he would get picked to translate Russian litterature something he appreciated dearly. He even got some of his early poems publish in the Soviet Union under his the name Lame Kodra. Life was quite good. Until 1956 when Hoxha once again attacked Albania’s intellectual class.

Hoxha’s ‘Gesture’.

Maleshova was forced out of Tirana with permission to bring his beloved collection of books with him. Maleshova and his cousin grapped as many they could carry and left for the town of Ballsh in southern Albania. In 1960 Maleshova got transferred to Fier. His last exile. As in other Communist countries purges raged through society and the Hoxha regime hit political opponents and intellectuals hard with terror and death. As a gesture Hoxha offered Maleshova a licence to live if he agreed on a vow of eternal silence. Maleshova wasn’t allowed to write or speak. Not to his family, not to anyone ever again. Maleshova choosed life. Word has it, that one day a peasant came by and saw Maleshovas many books and exclaimed; “How could you have done wrong after reading so many books?”. Maleshova smelled the trap realizing the peasant was sent by Hoxha and therefore he smiled friendly and pointed towards the door.

• 

                 Sejfulla Maleshova and Enver Hoxha.

In Fier, the former statesman was installed in an old warehouse, where the former statesman carried out simple, monotous work. Far away from Tirana’s elevated circles. Completely shunned by his fellow citizens his social life was reduced to watching children play football. If anyone dared speak to him he simply pinched his lips with two fingers. Maleshova became increasingly ill and sought treatment at the local hospital. He received a minimum of treatment and often tumbled his way home using trees and housewalls to keep his balance. Helping the dying man to his feet wpould be punished with prison. Maleshova died as an outcast in 1971. His funeral was attended by his sister, the local gravedigger and two agents from the Sigurimi, Albania’s secret police, in pouring rain. According to Enver Hoxha’s orders, the funeral was carried out… in utter silence. In 1993 a group of writers found his grave and gave him a lively funeral with hymns and voices.

If You Ever Get There

Try locating the office of the gravedigger. Once you have found that, you are actually very close. It’s a primitive low brick building which where white in the times of Hoxha’s regime, but nowadays paint had fallen down everywhere leaving grey, battered bricks visible. Take the hand of the gravedigger and shake it. He will be smiling all the way. Say “Maleshova” and then walk with him for less than a minute. Once the gravedigger stops, you are there. You have found the grave of a man which use of words, written and spoken, silenced him and gave him a very lonely death.

• 

      The Grave of Sejfulla Maleshova. Fier (Photo: Jannik Bay Hansen)

Sources: Drita Magazine, www.gazetadita.al, www.radiokosovaelire.com, www.prabook.com, www.albertvataj.com, www.kohajone.com, www.shqiperia.com, Albania as dictatorship and democracy (book).

Dear Mr. Reed

Dean Reed became “Elvis of Communism” while starting out as a soft second-rate crooner from Denver, Colorado.

‘S’ and ‘U’ is visible on the windshield. Red towers, crowded squares, bridges, rivers and countless Moskvitch cars runs like a film in the background as the Voskhod motorcycle plows its way through the capital. On monumental concrete roads, surrounded by great Socialist concrete achievements in which the proletariat and their family’s can reside with Pravda of the day and a sense of grandiosity. The year is 1980 and Dean Reed’s latest single is out. The musical backbone is the steady, on beat sound of boot tramp as the track opens with; “I’m going to Kansas City.. Kansas City here I come”. The tallgrass prairie’s of Kansas seems absurd and incomprehensible far away from the red capital. To every Socialist regime this handsome American were a godsend propaganda tool. An American who expressed leftist political views while denouncing US foreign policy and Western imperialism while he defended the building of the Berlin Wall. Dean Reed remained a walking, talking contrast until the very end. After touring South America in the sixties where Socialism gained momentum, he got the chance of touring the Soviet Union in 1966 and took it. That tour propelled Dean Reed to and almost half a Communist-world as a scene, where music and ideology walked hand in hand unconditionally.

Dear Dean... Thank you for you beautiful songs and your heartfelt praises for love and peace. You sing it like no one else.From the bottom of my heart, thanks  for being you. 
Ulrika Neumann Chemnitz, DDR

Dean Reed performing at a SED event in 1979.

State Sponsored Superstar

In 1973 Dean Reed moved to East Germany where the SED regime left it’s state-run entertainment business wide open to him. DEFA film studios handled his heroic cowboy movies while Amiga took care of his music. Both corporates completely controlled and censored by SED. As head of Free German Youth (FDJ), Egon Krenz, became a close associate with Reed business wise as he provided a huge FDJ fan base, state music festivals and acted as contact with the SED leadership making sure music and politics fitted. How much creative freedom Reed had musically is doubted. All lyrics contains praise of the Socialist cause, peace and patriotism. Lyrics were pre-written under censorship by the SED and Reed clearly just went in the studio and sung the song of the day. Movies were much closer to Reed’s heart than recording. At DEFA he wrote, directed and played leading roles in films such as ‘Blood Brothers’ and ‘El Cantor’. He was able to do that as long as he kept the regime satisfied. The overall plot of both films (and any other) is praising Socialism, criticising America and Western imperialism. In the role of an American soldier that realizes his wrong doing while fighting indians in Blood Brothers, Dean Reed famously breaks a flagpole in two over his knee with Stars and Stripes on it. A clear reference to the unjust treatment of native indians in North America. In 1971 he writes a ‘open letter’ where he slams famous Russian poet Alexander Solzhenitsyn for turning his back on the Soviet Union and Communism. Reed’s influence and importance behind the Iron Curtain had reached a climax.

11. december 1977. Ost Berlin, DDR. 
Comrade! 
Great appreciation of your tireless work for the Socialist cause. The party is very satisfied with you. Continue your work, put in all your strength for Socialism. Always peace, always forward.         
Socialist regard 
Bruno Greif, SED

The calendar was always booked with East German youth festivals, heavy touring of the Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern Bloc countries. Travels to the Cuba, South America and the Middle East, where Reed would support the Palestine cause were common. Although a convinced Socialist and for a period working for Stasi, he never became a member of SED.

Dean Reed performing, 1977.

A Socialist Artist In Despair

While Reed’s career flourished during the seventies his private life remained chaotic. Reed already been divorced twice married actor Renate Blume in 1981. Behind the smiles there were huge tensions and allegations of Blume spying on her husband for Stasi. Not able to make his third marriage work was a blow to Reed. In his suicide letter he wrote that his wife despised him. As times were changing in East Germany it became harder and harder for the regime to convince youngsters to turn up for concerts. As Rolling Stones and David Bowie was clearly heard over the wall from venues in West Berlin, Dean Reed simply seemed way out of touch and sounded as a cliché. Towards the end of his life he felt homesick and expressed desire of returning to USA. His father was a staunch anti-Communist and the rift between father and son tortured Reed. CBS program 60 Minutes visited Reed in East Berlin in 1986. Anchored by Mike Wallace, the legendary hardline journalist, Reed destroyed whatever hope he had of returning to the States and reviving his career. By the time Reed had both defended the Berlin wall, describing it as ‘self defence’, compared Ronald Reagan to Josef Stalin and stated he would love to become senator of Colorado it was all over. Even Mike Wallace had heard  enough. After the interview Reed received hate letters from outraged American’s accusing him of being a traitor based on the interview. His American comeback dream was dead. Stone dead! Just six months later Dean Reed was found dead in Zeuthener See. Death by drowning, not far from his East Berlin home. He was 47.

Epilogue

Dear Mr. Reed 
I was a young girl in the 70s and grew up with your music and films. I  believe you were a romantic idealist. Settling in East Germany as an American was remarkable. Maybe you were naive or did not care?  

Dear Mr. Reed,                                                      In the GDR we did not have true freedom nor basic human rights. We had Stasi and the Berlin Wall. So many risked their life at that wall. To get out. Why did you want to come in?                                     

Dear Mr. Reed,
It's human to be driven by ambitions, I guess. Often people end up replacing idealism with pragmatism. Perhaps you fell into that pot? You lived a privileged life in a state where many didn't.                                                   Listen to your music or watch one of your films. Egon Krenz said of you; "We used him. We told him what to do". 

Dear Mr. Reed,
Maybe you felt betrayed. Ashamed and used perhaps? Politics had nothing do with your death, you wrote Erich Honecker personally.   But didn't politics have everything to do with your life? 

Dear Mr. Reed,                                                  Politics made you rock n' roll the Eastern Bloc. Society needs to adapt to changes, otherwise it loses it's purpose.                  What happened when you lost yours?       

"Man has set for himself the goal of conquering the world                but in the processes loses his soul", Alexander Solzhenitsyn. 

Angela Sindermann 8. november 1992, Berlin.

SOURCES: DER SPIEGEL, WWWDEANREED.DE, JACOBIN MAGAZINE, THE GURADIAN, HTTP://WWW.DEAN-REED.RU, 3.TH NOVEMBER CLUB, BBC NEWS, CBS, COMRADE ROCKSTAR, ROTE ELVIS, YOUTUBE.COM, SØREN ANDERSEN.